The Concise Townscape

Product Information

First among these cases is anticipa­tion. These two pictures clearly arouseone's curiosity as to what scene willmeet our eyes upon reaching the endof the street. Architectural Press is an imprint of ElsevierLinacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA Optics, or how we see our surroundings: In his description of serial vision, the town is described as revealing itself in “a series of twitches or disclosures,” always balancing the present perspective and the growing one. According to the author, serial vision is defined as the visual pictures that an observer encounters when moving from one location in an area to another. As observers record the image, it eventually transforms into a part of the recording area for them. The observer may usually tell that he is still in the same place because of similarities or a marker in the view’s parts.

The fabric of towns : The author claims that an area’s fabric, which comprises color, texture, scale, style, character, personality, and distinctiveness, determines how one feels about the status of the urban environment. The degree of conformance and inventiveness are two criteria that affect content. In the author’s opinion, functional tradition is a desirable characteristic in the components of the urban environment. From a perspective that enjoys urban life rather than fears it, this is a fantastic depiction of the elements that make cities and towns operate. It brings home how much of the literature created about the city is the literature of terror. Sylvia Lavin, Professor, Department of Architecture and Urban Design, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. enclosureEnclosure sums up the polarity oflegs and wheels. It is the basic unitof the precinctual pattern; outside,the noise and speed of impersonalcommunication which comes and goesbut is not of any place. Inside, thequietness and human scale of thesquare, quad or courtyard. This isthe end product of traffic, this is theplace to which traffic brings you.Without enclosure traffic becomesnonsense. These examples show the seafrontat Hove turned into a mural, and anItalian allegorical scene in which thecaptured ships underline the point.The book’s title is ‘The Concise Townscape,’ and Gordon Cullen is the author. He was a well-known urban planner and architect from England who played a significant role in the townscape movement. Cullen introduced a novel theory and approach to urban visual analysis and design founded on the psychology of perception, including human perceptions of time and space and the need for visual stimulation. The Concise Townscape is the name given to later versions of Townscape. Through this book, he significantly contributed to the Townscape’s structure. Cullen, T., 2022. The Concise Townscape By Gordon Cullen [PDF|TXT] . [online] Pdfcookie.com. Available at: [Accessed 21 July 2022]. possession in movementBut static possession is only oneaspect of the human grip on theout-of-doors and the next stage is toconsider possession in movement. Inthe accompanying illustration thechurch walk is a definite thing havinga well-defined beginning and endwith a well-defined character; andthis may be possessed while movingthrough it just as surely as the villagecross may be by a villager sitting onits steps. There are advantages to be gained from the gathering together of peopleto form a town. A single family living in the country can scarcely hopeto drop into a theatre, have a meal out or browse in a library, whereasthe same family living in a town can enjoy these amenities. The littlemoney that one family can afford is multiplied by thousands and so acollective amenity is made possible. A city is more than the sum of itsinhabitants. It has the power to generate a surplus of amenity, which isone reason why people like to live in communities rather than in isolation. Because the motor car demands first, a pedestrian-free permanent way; second, a smooth surface; third, vast open acreage for parking lots. The first neutralizes the space for use, the second destroys the character of the space by introducing a neutral floor, the third eats up all unfenced urban openings for car-storage. There is a fourth danger which has nothing to do with traffic and that is the deliberate attempt by what one might term the ‘eternal prefect’ mentality to prevent natural assembly.

Examine what this means. Our original aim is to manipulate theelements of the town so that an impact on the emotions is achieved.A long straight road has little impact because the initial view is soondigested and becomes monotonous. The human mind reacts to a con­trast, to the difference between things, ann when two pictures (the streetand the courtyard) are in the mind at the same time, a vivid contrast isfelt and the town becomes visible in a deeper sense. It comes alivethrough the drama of juxtaposition. Unless this happens the town willslip past us featureless and inert. In enclosure the eye reacts to thefact of being completely surrounded.The reaction is static: once an en­closure is entered, the scene remainsthe same as you walk across it andout of it, where a new scene is sud­denly revealed. Closure, on the otherhand, is the creation of a break inthe street which, whilst containing the The scene at Bremhill might be a hundred or a thousand years old. It is the archetype of meeting places, church, cross and tree. A common scene? Yet how many others can you recall and how many will there be in ten years’ time?Cullen’s concerns with visual literacy have been well defined in this book with its extensive bibliographies and relevant illustrations. Not only does Engler provide a valuable insight into ‘Mr Townscape’ and his place in the history of urban design and planning, she also shows his continuing influence on imagining planned landscapes." Anything that may be occupied eitherby oneself or by one's imagination,which here lifts us into a carved stoneaedicule (in Valencia), becomes tothat extent of interest a warmcolour in the greys "f the inhospitable.Porticos, balconies and terraces havethis ability to communicate. Theydraw us outwards. Cullen lived in the small village of Wraysbury (Berkshire) from 1958 until his death, aged 80, on 11 August 1994, following a serious stroke. After his passing, David Gosling and Norman Foster collected various examples of his work and put them together in the book "Visions of Urban Design". without the ingredient of sensuousenjoyment the practice of architecturemust inevitably degenerate into littlemore than a sordid routine, or at themost the exercise of mere intellectualcleverness. In this light, the examplesof texture here can be gladlyaccepted as a stimulation to be foundin the ordinary scene.

The parallel of foliage and traceryin this Spanish scene, below, producesa momentary and transient synchroni­zation which asserts a community ofinterest beyond the normal and is tothat extent remarkable. There is awhole field of study of the texturesand habits of growth of trees whichcan be exploited. For just as treeshave different characteristics, fasti­giate or drooping, geometric or fluffy,polished or velvet, so these qualitiesmay be used in dramatic conjunctionwith buildings, either to extend theconception or to offset it as a foil. Until such happy day arrives when people in the street throw theircaps in the air at the sight of a planner (the volume of sardonic laughteris the measure of your deprivation) as they now do for footballers andpop singers, a holding operation in two parts will be necessary. According to Gordon Cullen, the layout of the city’s structures, including its streets, trees, and other natural elements, is known as Townscape. One approach to identifying a city’s physical shape using physical images is through the Townscape. The layout of the buildings and roads, which elicits a range of emotions in the viewer, may also be used to identify a townscape. The townscape idea is a foundation for architects, planners, and anyone concerned with the city’s appearance. The structure’s shape and mass impact and affect the physical form of urban space. The relationship between the physical condition of the urban environment and the body of the building mass is sensed by the spectator on a psychological and physical level. Additionally, the link between urban space’s size, form, and configuration and a city’s quality may be observed aesthetically. As soon as the game or dialogue is understood the whole place beginsto shake hands with you. It bursts all through the dull business of whodid what and when and who did it first. We know who did it, it was a chapwith a twinkle in his eye. In the context of the post-war era and the end of Empire, Townscape reinterpreted the picturesque as symbolising an English allegiance to freedom and liberty, an alternative to the monumentalism of the Beaux Arts tradition. However, as Williams notes, the AR’s egalitarianism existed simultaneously and in tension with a conservative ‘aristocratic world-view’, where the city as an aesthetic object acted as a source of spectacular pleasure for the privileged observer.as a physical barrier; the very simpiest perhaps the oldest and yet still themeans will suffice to give this warn_ most effective form of fence with its Concerning OPTICS. Let us suppose that we are walking through atown: here is a straight road off which is a courtyard, at the far side ofwhich another street leads out and bends slightly before reaching amonument. Not very unusual. We take this path and our first view isthat of the street. Upon turning into the courtyard the new view isrevealed instantaneously at the point of turning, and this view remainswith us whilst we walk across the courtyard. Leaving the courtyard weenter the further street. Again a new view is suddenly revealed althoughwe are travelling at a uniform speed. Finally as the road bends themonument swings into view. The significance of all this is that althoughthe pedestrian walks through the town at a uniform speed, the scenery oftowns is often revealed in a series of jerks or revelations. This we callSERIAL VISION. Shwetank, K., 2022. Book Review: The Concise Townscape by Gordon Cullen . [online] Academia.edu. Available at: [Accessed 20 July 2022]. trees incorporatedOf all the natural aids to townscapethe tree is surely the most ubiquitous,and the relationship between trees andtowns has a long and honourablehistory, The conception that treeswere structures in just the same wayas buildings led to pleaching and anarchitectural layout of planting, buttoday the tree is more usually acceptedin its own right as a living organismwhich is pleased to dwell amongst us,In this way new relationships arepossible between our own organicarchitecture and the natural structure.The first example shows the volumecreated by the clump of trees: we allknow the meaning of this, the senseof enclosure and space, a space thatcan be entered and left. Here thehouse is situated inside this spacewith the result that a structuralvolume is created akin to the classicalportico, left.